Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons": Reasons for A Person's Actions
Reading about individuals whose ways of life are dramatically different from our own provides readers with fresh insights into their own experiences and ideas. A reader of A Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt, may not be accustomed to the actions of the play's characters. Though, it is important to figure out and understand why the character reacts or acts as he/she does. This enables the reader to have a new or modified outlook on his/her own actions. If one turns the kaleidoscope of his/her life just a little, the world becomes a different place.
Sir Thomas More lived the type of life that is foreign to many readers.
More's actions were all based upon two things, his conscience and God. When
More is being pressured into signing the oath by Norfolk in the name of fellowship, he replies by saying, " And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me for fellowship?"(77). He adheres to his philosophy and conscience, knowing that he will inevitably be executed.
One who is reading this may reply by thinking More's decision was asinine. The reader may believe that life is the greatest value to man, and to place anything above it would be asinine. More's behavior was bizarre even to his own time period. His daughter, Margaret, pleaded for him to sign the oath, "Then say the words of the oath and in your heart think otherwise"(81). Her father could not morally be satisfied by this. More believed that when an oath is taken, one is placing his pledging his self and soul. " When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. And if he opens his fingers then- he needn't hope to find himself again"(81).
On the other hand, Richard Rich's actions were not based upon conscience or morality. He would sacrifice his friend's life in order to receive a job offer. After Rich testifies, and More learns that Rich was appointed Attorney-
General for Wales, he is full of disgust and disbelief when he says, " For
Wales? Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the world.....But for Wales!"(92). Rich can be portrayed as the lowest of life forms. More implies that Rich abandoned his conscience to have a title, which in the whole scheme of things is really insignificant. On that day of judgment,
one page 11) this indicates that he is a selfish man and cares for his
One's word and the oath that is made between two people were crucial to how society functioned durin...
What idea does the author develop regarding how an important event can change your perspective? In the short story, “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones is about a little girl view on the people during her first day. Her mother prepare her gave her an unusually breakfast and clothes for her new school Seaton Elementary all the way down New Jersey Avenue. At the school Walker-Jones, a key event happens to her. She learns of an essential fact of her mother pervious past of her life and on how she acts. The daughter sees that the mother does not seem to like the teacher of her daughter new classroom. A significant event can changes how you use to see people from your old understanding into another completely different understanding of how you view them before.
In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Piece, the main Character, Gene Forrester, has to learn to become friends with his hazardous roommate, Phineas, at his school, Devon, in New Hampshire. The novel is affected by a number of changes, however the largest and most significant change is the change in seasons. In Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to read literature like a Professor, chapter twenty explains the significance of the seasons. Foster states that, “Summer [symbolizes] adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion,” while, “ winter [symbolizes] old age and resentment and death.” John Knowles’ book A Separate Peace, all aspects of Summer, Fall, and Winter are excellently represented as explained in Thomas C. Foster’s novel, How to read
to happened a man must repent and in so doing become like a child whose heart is
The magnificence of human life is so transparent because it is sacred seeing that it is an act of creation. Life diverts an inimitable place in creation since it was created in the image of God. The protection of human life is the conclusive value, a support of beliefs and ethics and the basis of all morals and principles. Life should be looked upon with respect to where one is in time, because time moves on. As time moves on, one encounters the problem of which path to follow. In the stages of early life, youth are taught about the choices they should and should not make. So even as a young child, one knows that their actions will be judged and one should be able to tell right from wrong. God has presented humanity with life and throughout life one must realize that life’s actions should be analyzed, understanding of liberation should be expressed, and the better opportunity for the poor should be accentuated.
Lipking, Lawrence I, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
In the book, A Man For All Seasons by Robert Bolt there are a few people that can’t be trusted by Sir Thomas More, the main character in the book. Richard Rich is definitely one of those men who can’t be trusted and along with Thomas Cromwell the two destroy More’s life slowly but surely and to the point of death. In the end of the book More is executed for high treason and his family goes from being very well off to having to start over. So this book shows that through deceitfulness of two, one can fall.
promise to “ . . . preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
...ith liberty and justice for all.” Without God, the Pledge becomes less convoluted and more expressible. There will be less people who say it in vain, less controversy, and more admiration and devotion.
they pledged. “He was more than a High Priest of the religion; he was its most vocal
... value ordering. Goldman says life does not hold value in itself; instead most individuals derive the meaning of life from their accomplishments and happiness to the point where individuals may even risk their health and lives to attain those. As established before about paternalism in a medical contest, it is only the patient’s true values that can be primary determinants of their futures.
sanctity of life or whether one life is more valuable than another, it gives us something to
"...1 hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince or state of whom or which I have been a subject or citizen...."
Most people question the purpose of writing a journal. People who write a journal keep it to fulfill a basic human need – “self expression and reflection” (Sagan 1). Writing is known as one of the easiest ways to express your personality and who you truly are. You can write in a journal without having anyone judging you – unless you chose to have someone else read it of course. You may reflect on your writing while you are writing your journal/diary entries. Then, once you have expressed your thoughts, you can even go back to your past entries to reflect on what you have said before. Reflecting on your writing can help you develop as a person. It helps you think through a situation and possibly solve it. Reflections help generate ideas for how to improve as an individual. But really, it’s entertaining to re-read past memories and see how much...